2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival: Second Visit

Date of Visit: May 4, 2019

For our second visit to the 2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, we focused on the areas at the beginning of the World Showcase. Our first stop was the Citrus Bloom, where we tried the lobster tail, which we liked the taste of, but found hard to get off the shell as tends to be the norm for lobster...

Next we stopped at the Honey Bee-stro. Mik enjoyed the honey-peach cobbler freeze and the chicken flatbread.

Nearby we checked out the Goodness Garden Butterfly House. There's lots of butterflies to see, but not that interesting to us because it just seemed like they were mostly flying by the netting trying to get out.

Next we stopped by the Gardeners Terrace where Minnie's Garden Party is going this weekend only. Here we picked up the button they were giving out and also tried the fried green tomatoes at Arbor, which Mik didn't like, but I got them mainly for me and I liked them except the paprika oil does make them spicy.

Our last stop was dessert from Pineapple Promenade. Mik had the pineapple soft-serve ice cream and I had the desert violet lemonade (sadly my flower blew away as I was carrying the items back to Mik).

On the way out of Epcot to park hop over to Magic Kingdom, we stopped for a photo because Mik wanted one with his Darth Vader socks for Star Wars Day. We were going to do a photo in Hollywood Studios earlier in the day, but we were just done with the park after discovering that we couldn't use our Toy Story Mania fastpass because the wheelchair accessible vehicle was down.

Destination Info:
2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Lake Buena Vista, FL

2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival

Date of Visit: May 2, 2019

Every year we talk about wanting to go to the Flower & Garden Festival again. We'll go next year turned into five years since the last time we went mainly because we started doing an annual extended family trip every January (once it was February) and then it just seemed too soon to go again for the Flower & Garden (or we were doing Destination D for our just us WDW trip for the year).

As we started our day in Hollywood Studios with Toy Story Mania fastpasses, we entered Epcot between the UK and France pavilions. After hanging out in the gift shop by the entrance for the rain to let up, we decided to start in France where Mik had one of his favorites from before - the duck confit. We also enjoyed the chilled cucumber soup.

Next we enjoyed a key lime tart and a watermelon cucumber slush (my favorite thing we had today) at Florida Fresh between France and Morocco.

Next Mik had the shredded beef brisket with smoked potato from The Smokehouse in American Adventure. He didn't particularly enjoy it, but we did like the sunflower topiaries with Mickey and Minnie.

After the brisket, Mik was full so we just strolled through the rest of World Showcase making note of what we might want to try later this week. Of course, we also strolled through Mik's favorite part of Epcot - the Romantic Road in Germany.

We also enjoyed checking out the various topiaries with my favorite being Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Destination Info:
2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Jaleo by Jose Andres

Date of Visit: March 14, 2019

As we knew there were a lot of restaurants around the Capital One Arena/Chinatown area, we decided to walk home from the National Building Street via 7th St. We ended up at Jaleo, which is a tapas restaurant (we were kind of aiming for tapas as Dad knew there was a Mexican tapas in this area that we were sort of heading to).

Mik really enjoyed the height of the table. It was just right for him and as long as he wasn't at the end spot there was no barrier to roll under the table to get close to the table.

We each did the lunch menu that allows you to pick one from each section of a select menu for just $20 person. Mik started with a potato dish that he really enjoyed.

Mik also enjoyed the pineapple sage soda.

His second selection was the chicken fritters. His third selection was the shrimp, which I apparently forgot to take a photo of. He also enjoyed them, but didn't finish as he was getting full and wanted to save room for desert.

For desert he chose sorbet, but he also ate most of the flan Dad had chosen (and again I forgot to take a photo).

Overall we really enjoyed eating at Jaleo. Also, at only $20 per person it was a good price for a meal in DC.

Destination Info:
Jaleo by Jose Andres
480 7th St NW
Washington DC 20074

Walt Disney World - Disney's Wilderness Lodge: Storybook Dining at Artist Point

Date of Visit: January 8, 2019

The day before our annual family trip I was reading the latest DVC magazine and discovered that you could meet Grumpy as part of the character dining at Artist Point. I was surprised to find I actually could get a reservation for one of the days on our trip and we went back and forth on whether we would keep the reservation or not because it was also the day we had booked the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's, which was something we overall preferred to keep. In the end, we cancelled our dinner reservation in Disney Springs for later in the week and went for a splurge dining day. It particularly made sense to not push this back to try next year since this year we stayed at Boulder Ridge Villas and we have not enjoyed our experiences getting to dining where we're not staying.

When Mik got the menu, he thought he needed help opening it because it looks like it's through a loop, but it's actually just a magnet.

We really enjoyed that the appetizers were shared as that meant we got to try them all. For the appetizers, Mik's favorite was the Hunter's Pie.

The winter squash bisque was also fun in the little cast iron bowls.

For his entree, Mik enjoyed the Magic Mirror Slow-braised Veal Shank.

The desserts are also shared, which in the end we really appreciated because it meant we didn't choose something that sounded good and end up disappointed as we didn't really enjoy any of them.

The meal ending with The Hunter's Gift to the Queen (cracked maple popcorn and ganache hearts) was not a disappointment, though, and good highlight to end the meal.

Overall we really enjoyed this character dining experience. Of course, the best part was Mik meeting Grumpy. Kirsten, Nora, and I also enjoyed visiting the Evil Queen.

Destination Info:

Artist Point at Disney's Wilderness Lodge

901 Timberline Dr
Orlando, FL 32830

Disney Wonder Baja Cruise: Day 4 - Animator’s Palette

Date of Visit: October 17, 2018

While Tiana’s may be our new favorite, Animator’s Palette is still fun. It’s really fun to see the different sketches and how they come to life at points and then around dessert Sorcerer Mickey comes out and everything gets color.

Mik enjoyed the Bora Shake with dinner.

For the appetizer, Mik went with the Sliced Serrano Ham.

Mik enjoyed the Herb Crusted Pork Chop for his entree.

For dessert, Mik for once didn’t go with the sundae because I did and instead went with the Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake, which he liked, but I think he likes the Cookies ’n Cream Sundae more as he was eyeing mine.

Disney Wonder Baja Cruise: Day 3 - Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner at Triton's

Date of Visit: October 16, 2018

Pirate night has always been our least favorite. The food isn’t bad and actually, I think the menu has been reworked since the last time we cruised. Also, we managed to get through dinner quickly and sneak out just as they started the pirate entertainment part that we just aren’t into.

Mik had the “Boucanier” Smoked Saucisson, Baked Brie, Brioche and Honey. He enjoyed it, although found it a little hard to get out of the dish and eat.

He kept going back and forth on what to get for his entree, especially since he had yet to order any kind of steak as he sometimes does almost every night on a cruise. In the end, he went with the Tia Dalma’s Jerk Chicken as it seemed most fitting for the Caribbean and he was glad he did.

Dessert was actually an easy choice as most of the choices weren’t even a little tempting for him. He did enjoy the Bananas in Paradise, although he thought the wrong dessert was delivered because it looks more like a slice of cake as it is a layered dessert with banana bread and not slices of banana bread as he imagined.

Disney Wonder Baja Cruise: Day 2 - Triton's

Date of Visit: October 15, 2018

As Mik loves mango, he had the specialty non-alcoholic drink called the Princess Delight.

As usual, Mik had to have Gaston’s Escargot Gratinee

Mik enjoyed the Roasted Rack of Lamb Medium for his entree.

For dessert, he enjoyed the Apple Tart Tatin.

Disney Wonder Baja Cruise: Day 1 - Tiana’s Place

Date of Visit: October 14, 2018

This was our first time on the Wonder since they turned Parrot’s Cay into Tiana’s Place. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the new design, although we also did like Parrot’s Cay, and the first night it was just the same menu in all the restaurants and we didn’t get the full Tiana’s Place experience until later in the cruise.

Going into the restaurant was a little awkward as the host decided to take over pushing Mik at the entrance. I initially just let him because I thought he just wanted to do the go backwards over the big bump to enter and was going to then let me continue pushing Mik, but instead, he handed Mik off to someone to lead us to our table. That guy then kind of got lost and another guy did a slick switch of table numbers when he realized the original table 67 was impossible to get a wheelchair to and there was no one at the nearby table next to the main aisle.

We all enjoyed the calamari for our appetizer. Mik was going to get the clam chowder, which is another fav of his, but I messed up when ordering for him and he didn’t correct me because really he kind of wanted calamari and wasn’t hungry enough to also do a soup.

For the entree, Mik chose the pork tenderloin wellington. As usual, the server asked if he needed help cutting it up and we enjoyed letting them do it instead of us the whole cruise.

Mik was going to be different and have the warm sticky fig and pecan pudding, but I discouraged him since he usually doesn’t like pecans and he hadn’t noticed that was part of it. Instead, he enjoyed his typical choice of a sundae (Magical Express Sundae).

I enjoyed the creme brûlée while also feeling like something was missing until the next day I realized that my typical choice of the trio of desserts seems to have disappeared from all the menus.

Disney Wonder Baja Cruise: Day 1 - Cabanas

Date of Visit: October 14, 2018

Mik wasn’t really hungry as he had eaten the rest of the free DoubleTree cookies right before we went to the port. However, when Mom brought over a piece of pumpkin pie, he found some room.

Other than when we first get on the ship we have never taken Mik to the buffet so I’m not sure if the table pedestal leg design has always been a problem or not. At first we tried to sit near the windows at a rectangle table and found we couldn’t roll Mik up close enough. In another area we ended up getting some help from a cast member to turn a circle table so he could roll up with one of the corners of the pedestals between his casters.

We later found at breakfast the next day the way the rectangle tables were next to booth seating actually worked out the best, especially since we got the table right by the main pathway. However, mostly we just find it easier to bring it back to the room or if you can get a table outside by the pools.

Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Disney Studio Store

Date of Visit: May 15, 2018

We've been here twice before, but the last time was probably something like 2010 and it was still the Disney Soda Fountain (or something like that). We knew it wasn't the same now that it became a Ghirardelli's and didn't plan to go, but it ended up being a convenient place for a snack when we had to kill time waiting for our hotel room to be ready.

Overall it's still a great place for ice cream, but it's sad there's no longer the giant Sorcerer sundae even though we wouldn't have gotten it this time. Also, the tables were difficult for Mik to really roll up close to, although I don't remember if that was or was not a problem in its old layout.

Destination Info:
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Disney Studio Store
6834 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028